Comparative strength of association between religious attendance and survival

Objective: Analyze effects on long-term survival of frequent religious atte ndance compared with four widely-accepted beneficial health behaviors. Meth od: Calculate gender-specific associations with mortality over 29 years for religious attendance, cigarette smoking, physical activity, alcohol consum ption, and non-religious social involvement. Subjects were 5,894 participan ts in the Alameda County Study age 21-75. Analyses use proportional hazards modeling with time-dependent measures to adjust for subsequent changes in attendance and each health behavior over the follow-up period. All statisti cal models adjust for the same variables. Results: For women, the protectiv e effect of weekly religious attendance was of the same order of magnitude as the four other health behaviors. For men, the protective effect of weekl y religious attendance was less than for any of the other health behaviors. Conclusions: The protective effect of religious attendance for women is co mparable to those observed for several commonly recommended health behavior s: for men the protective effect of religious attendance is more modest. Th is strong gender difference may be a key to understanding how religious att endance exerts its effects.